Hello Randy, Bill & All,
Randy said:
>>   In the absence of viruses, colonies can tolerate astounding
>> levels of mite infestation.
Bill said:
>  In the presence of pathogens, low Varroa loads can
> cause collapse. It all depends on the pathogen.

The above has baffled many of us for awhile now and as Bill says both
statements appear true. My hypothesis today( which at first was as Randy
said and then moved to the second of Bill and now is):

Most hives in the U.S. have most pathogens. True a package dropped on new
foundation might have less but the pathogens are in the hives. Waiting for
the chance to raise their ugly head.

Beekeeping research history:
The hypothesis put forward of two working together by Jerry is sound in my
book but is not a new hypothesis. Dr. Shiminuki ( retired head of Beltsville
bee lab) named parasitic mite syndrome ( PMS) to cover the multiple pathogen
issue and said in his talks we would never be able to determine which single
issue killed the hive. His solution was better mite control.

At first (first decade of varroa in the U.S.) if you kept varroa control at
a high level you saw no PMS.
Then:
We started to see PMS ( pathogen & virus issues) in hives with low mite
loads.  Randy & I have discussed on BEE-L before.

Today *in my opinion* we see pathogen & virus issues  which can not be
traced to mite load. Or even stress on bees. Do NOT display the classic PMS
signs.

In fact the most common sign today is not a hive left with brood and pests
not robbing but a hive with honey & pollen and no sign of the bees. Whole
winter swarms absconding into the cold winter . Exactly like the bats were
reported doing. Flying out to die.

My hypothesis and mode of treatment:
The cure in my opinion lies in treatment of the boxes/comb. Not my
hypothesis alone but of those which first saw CCD in Florida in 2004/2005.

I do believe that nosema ceranae is one of the two pathogens working
together and I base that hypothesis on my experiments since 2004.

I feel Jerry is on the right path and those in charge with distributing CCD
research funds need a reality check.

bob

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